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Experimental study about the influence of cyclic load on the hydraulic conductivity of clay

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Abstract

The hydraulic conductivity k, one of the most important engineering properties of soft clay, plays a great role during the whole life cycle of underwater tunnel. Therefore, it is necessary to systematically study the responses of k to the dynamic load under the background of the great development of geotechnical engineering in the world. In this study, a series of seepage tests after cyclic loading were conducted on reconstituted kaolin clay using a modified hollow cylinder apparatus. The influence of cyclic load on the permeability characteristics of soft clay was illustrated in two aspects. The cumulative axial deformation of clay induced by cyclic loading resulted in the smaller hydraulic conductivity of the specimens, and also, the dynamic load reconstructed the microstructure of clay and made the number of large pores getting decreased and the small pores increased. There was a positive correlation between the deformation of soil and the change of hydraulic conductivity, but the reconstruction effect was irregular with the frequency of dynamic load. The measured k values got affected at the beginning, this phenomenon appropriately explains the positive correlation between the number of cycles of dynamic load and the change of hydraulic conductivity.

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Acknowledgements

The financial support provided by the National Key R&D Program of China (2016YFC0800203) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51338009) is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Center of Coastal and Urban Geotechnical Engineering, Zhejiang University, 866 Yuhangtang Road, Hangzhou, 310058, Zhejiang Province, China

    Jian Zhou, Ling-Hui Luo, Liang-Gui Yu & Horris Nangulama

  2. Research Center of Zhejiang Urban Underground Space Development Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China

    Jian Zhou, Liang-Gui Yu & Horris Nangulama

  3. Shanghai Municipal Engineering Design Institute (Group) Co., Ltd, Shanghai, 200082, China

    Ling-Hui Luo

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  1. Jian Zhou
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  2. Ling-Hui Luo
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  4. Horris Nangulama
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Correspondence to Jian Zhou.

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Zhou, J., Luo, LH., Yu, LG. et al. Experimental study about the influence of cyclic load on the hydraulic conductivity of clay. Acta Geotech. 15, 3357–3370 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-020-01066-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-020-01066-9

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